Woman says Indy Uber driver wouldn’t let her out of car

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Update (March 18)-- Indianapolis police cleared the driver of any criminal intent in this case.

Original story:

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 16, 2016) - An Indianapolis woman says she was using Uber to get to work Tuesday morning when she noticed the driver was taking her on a much longer trip than usual.

“From work to school to home, I use Uber for my daily transportation every day,” said 19-year-old Rahsha Brown.

When Brown got in her Uber Tuesday morning, she didn’t think anything of her quiet driver.

“He never even turned around to look at me,” she said.

But she thought something was up after 20 minutes into what is normally about a 10-minute drive.

“The route shows you where to go; he was just not taking the route-- like he was on his own route,” she said.

When she asked the driver where he was going, Brown said he told her to shut up and then hit the gas.

“I just freaked out. I wanted to get out the car immediately. I asked to get out the car probably 50 times and was not let out the car,” she said.

She called 911 from the back seat of the car and when the driver slowed down at a turn, “When I was given the opportunity and the car slowed down, I jumped out and ran over into work and got help,” she said.

A normal trip to work for Brown, according to the stored Uber ride history on her phone, is 4.6 miles and 12 minutes. Tuesday morning’s trip was 6.1 miles and lasted more than 20 minutes.

Police are investigating. Uber responded to the incident by saying that driver has been suspended. They also provided their policy requiring each driver undergo a driving history and criminal background check.

That wasn’t enough though for Brown. She was once a longtime Uber customer, but now promises to never use the popular app again.

“I just can’t. I don’t want to go through any traumatic experience like that or risk going through any traumatic experience like that again,” she said.